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Dominican Government Should Implement City Hall Registration Law as Housing Shortage Intensifies in Wake of Hurricane Matthew

Hurricane Matthew left extensive destruction behind in the Dominican Republic, with 15 hospitals suffering damage as a result of the harsh winds the particularly strong storm wrought over the country. As it currently stands, the Dominican medical system is teetering on the edge of a precipice, with even the slightest wind capable of blowing to bits the last pieces of the collective hut.

If the country's sturdily-built, bunker-like hospitals are facing enormous strain which could see them devastated, it goes to say that many of the nation's irregularly-constructed homes have suffered even more extensive damage, rendering entire working-class areas unlivable.

Although the Dominican Republic has been heavily affected by Hurricane Matthew, Haiti bore most of the brunt, with one city suffering apocalyptic destruction that left more than 80% of homes uninhabitable in just one city. The housing crunch in the overpopulated island of Hispaniola is about to intensify.

To reduce the level of child homelessness on the streets of the Dominican Republic, the Dominican government will have to begin empowering local city halls with the task of regulating the presence of foreign nationals within homes in each respective municipality, similar to how it's done in the Netherlands, a country that's about the same size as the Dominican Republic and also faces water management and overpopulation issues.

As it currently stands, it is not a civil violation in the Dominican Republic for a foreign national to live in a house for more than 3 days without registering at city hall, despite Dominican kids being forced to sleep on the wet streets of an economically-booming country.

There will be an avalanche of foreign nationals barging into the Dominican Republic now that Haiti has suffered another calamity, and there will be another calamity in less than a decade unless the Dominican government mandates that city halls begin preparing for an overpopulation crisis and housing shortage that is already crippling the Dominican economy, since tourists don't want to see kids sleeping on wet streets.